Additional service extensions announced

This morning, it was announced that beginning Nov. 23, the Kitchener GO train line will have weekend service to Kitchener GO station.

Though trains currently run on the Kitchener line during weekends, service is only provided between Mount Pleasant GO and Union Station. On the new schedule, four existing trips will extend service to Kitchener GO.

Other service changes include one existing weekday trip to be extended from Guelph Central GO to Kitchener GO, as well as eighteen new weekend trips between Bramalea GO and Union Station.

The announcement comes after years of push from locals and politicians including Kitchener-Conestoga MPP Mike Harris, Waterloo MPP Catherine Fife, and Kitchener Centre MPP Aislinn Clancy, who recently launched a petition for weekend GO service which garnered close to 10,000 signatures.

Weekend service has been made possible in part by an agreement between CN Rail and Metrolinx to share tracks.

The work plays into the Kitchener Extension Project, for which the Government of Ontario has also reached an agreement-in-principle with CN Rail to build dedicated passenger tracks on the Kitchener line.

Thomas Savage, a fourth-year English student, was elated to hear the update. “I’ve been talking to everybody about this who would listen to me,” he said. Savage, from Georgetown, said that while a train home takes forty-eight minutes, the bus home would take anywhere from two and a half to three hours. Given the closeness of the Georgetown train station to his home, he said it was “so frustrating” that he couldn’t make use of it.

Additionally, despite sharing a car with his girlfriend, Savage said the lack of service made things inconvenient because when he would need to borrow the car, it would leave her with fewer transit options.

Though he is happy about the additional service, he welcomes more improvements. “I want them to do more! As many as you can get…four is a pretty low number,” he said, referring to the amount of trips that will be running through Kitchener GO.

Last updated Oct. 20 to include student comment.